1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to sheet metal fabrication tools and methods, and, more particularly to an adapter that is used with a hammer drill for driving any one of a plurality of different types of cleats onto the opposing ends of two sheet metal sections that are to be joined together and used in typical heating ventilation and air-condition (HVAC) applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
In HVAC applications and the installation of other types of air flow systems, both the sections of the air ducts that are-to-be-joined and the cleats that are used to hold them together are typically made from galvanized steel, aluminum or stainless steel. The ends of the duct sections that are to be joined are typically configured to have a lip, an indentation or other configuration in order to help in joining the sections to the cleats.
Until relatively recently, a common handheld hammer was used to impact the end of a cleat in order to drive it onto the sometimes especially configured and adjoining ends of the sections that were to be joined together with a cleat. Since air ducts are typically overhead, sheet metal workers typically had to stand on a ladder to drive the cleat. Using a repetitive, upward shoulder force, the sheet metal worker would swing a hammer impacting one end of the cleat so as to force it into position connecting the ducts.
However, this method was time consuming, the cleats were difficult to maneuver and sometimes led to bent cleats during the installation process. In addition, this repetitive, overhead, manual, impact motion was physically very stressful for the sheet metal worker and would sometimes cause shoulder and other injuries to the workers tasked with installing the cleats.
The recent development of a “hammer drill” and its associated adapters has made the task of installing some types of cleats much less stressful on the installer or sheet metal worker. This situation is such because the hammer drill, that is now sometimes used in such applications, is designed to have its chuck move forward and backward on the centerline of the drill in order to apply a series of relatively small amplitude, but high frequency hammering motions that help to allow anything that is being held by and protruding forward from the drill's chuck to be moved forward when comparatively small amounts of pressure are applied in a forward direction to the hammer drill's grip.
However, the use of such hammer drill is still relatively limited because the adapters that have been designed to be used with them, see U.S. Patent Publication Nos. (USPPN) 20180043520 and 20090188690, can still not handle a wide range of differing types of cleats and there still are problems with bending the cleats when using such hammer drills & the current adapters to install the cleats.
What is needed are improved hammer drill adapters and the methods for installing such cleats. These needed, improved adapters and their methods need to accommodate a wider range of differing types of adapters, reduce the incidences of bent cleats when trying to install them, reduce the time required to safely install such cleats, and further reduce the resulting impact forces and stresses applied to the sheet metal workers who install such cleats.